Disclaimer: everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.
I truly believe all towns should have a salaried historian. Of course, the problem there is finding someone immune enough to city politics and influences to actually ferret around for the truth instead of recording history as some of the townspeople are apt to want it to be. As it is, too much of our heritage is lost because it isn't correctly documented, or often not documented at all. For instance, who was the Thompson for whom Thompson Ward was named? How many people know who B.M. Dinsmore was? Who knows who put in the air conditioning at the Grand Theatre? Who now knows the story of Mr. Owens' capture by Clyde Barrow? That sort of thing is being forgotten-and it shouldn't be.
I understand there's new interest in the history of the old water well and building that used to be at the corner of North Waggoner and West Bryan.
Back in the bad old days, the various oil companies in Electra could always be counted upon when work needed to be done around the town. Men would volunteer and the company would provide the machinery, cement, paint and other equipment to get the job done.
When I was very small, my father loaded me into our old Chevy and took me downtown where he parked by what was then Piggly Wiggly. He told me I could watch, but I'd have to stay in the car.
Some men from the Texas Company were going to cement the old well that was in the back of the building on the southeast corner of North Waggoner and West Bryan.
Most of the building had a concrete floor, but a strip at the back only had wood laid almost on the ground, and under the center of it was what my father said was actually the first well drilled here.
There was a pipe, about 5 inches in diameter which stuck up through the sidewalk on the corner. If a rock was dropped down it, water could be heard splashing and gurgling way down, but that pipe wasn't the problem. The original site of the old well was inside the store, not sealed, and the moisture and fumes from it were rotting out the floor.
The Masonic Lodge met upstairs in this building and my father and the three other men who volunteered to fill in the well were Masons. The Texas Company provided a mixer and chute so that the concrete could be funneled in from an opening in the side of the building. The men had figured out how to do the job before they began and it didn't take them long to do it. The well was sealed and a new pad leveled up to the rest of the store's concrete floor was laid. Once the work was done, I was allowed out of the car to take a look. At one time, before the edge crumbled, my handprint could be seen in the concrete.
Some years ago someone came and asked me to show where the work had been done and tell what I knew about the old well. I did, not knowing that my information was to be used to apply to the State for an historic plaque. The information was turned over to someone else to write the application. It was rejected. However, the idea seems to have come around again.
People have a habit of re-writing history to suit themselves, as can be seen in the various histories of people and events in Electra now published, including that of the Grand Theater, which is a shame.
I'm not the absolute authority as far as Electra history is concerned, but I was there. So now I'm wondering just how accurate the 'new' history of that building will be.
12. Who hires unsuitable, unqualified people for city positions?
Anita Huguelet McMurtrie
